


A Bit of a Malfunction

by Bremol



Series: Leftovers Challenge [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Valley
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24276568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bremol/pseuds/Bremol
Summary: Victoria's children find themselves somewhere that makes no sense after they were taken from their beds in the middle of the night. This is a sequel to Haunting Memories so reading that first will make this make more sense.
Series: Leftovers Challenge [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752442
Kudos: 3





	A Bit of a Malfunction

**Author's Note:**

> In Haunting Memories, one of the commenters asked, "...where did they all go?...". This idea popped into my head as a follow up to Haunting Memories, and as an answer to her question. Mind you...it's a bit of cheek (as my Downton Abbey side would write) so don't take it too seriously. It's a crossover with another show...one I'm sure you'll guess as you read so I won't mention it. This is a different take on the challenge (the challenge is explained in Haunting Memories) as it's written mostly from the view of those that disappeared.

Jarrod grabbed hold of Nick to keep him from once again banging on the walls of the strange structure they mysteriously found themselves in. “Nick, that won’t help. You’ll only hurt your hands.”

Nick scowled at Jarrod as he jerked away. “Well, then what do you say we do?”

“Nick, look around. Look at all these people here with us. We’re not the only ones that blinked and found ourselves somewhere else. Do you hear that hum? Feel the motion?”

Nick did as his brother said, taking in the amount of people here with them. “They’re from all over the world,” he murmured. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the sounds, hearing the hum his brother talked about. “The motion feels like we’re on a ship of some sort, but the hum…I’ve never heard a ship hum like that.”

Audra finally found her brothers. “I’m so glad you’re here, too, but what about Mother?”

Jarrod pulled her into a hug. “I don’t think she’s here, Sis.”

“We’d have heard her by now.” Nick mumbled earning him a laugh from his siblings.

“Very true.” Jarrod agreed, knowing their mother well enough to know she’d have been shouting their names loud enough to be heard about the din of the people crowded in this room the moment she realized her children weren’t with her.

“The door says cargo bay one. Are we on a ship?” Audra asked. 

“We were just discussing that. Nick thinks we might be on a ship of sorts, though neither of us know what type.”

Audra frowned. “Where we shanghaied? I heard a weird whirring sound and saw a bit of a blue light and then found myself here.”

“Well you remember more than we do.” Nick frowned. “I was asleep.”

“So was I.” Jarrod looked at his sister with a raised eyebrow. “Why were you awake?”

“I wasn’t at first. The noise woke me up.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t help that the two of you sleep like rocks.”

Jarrod laughed and pulled her to him again, gently squeezing her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Good to see you haven’t lost your sass.”

Audra sighed as she leaned her head against her brother’s chest. “If Mother isn’t here…Pappy…”

“Shh. We’ll get home to her, Sis.”

“You bet we will. I’ll find us a way home somehow.” Nick smiled at her, though he was as worried for their mother as Audra was, as he knew Jarrod was underneath it all.

~*~

“ _Captain, you’re needed in Cargo Bay One,_ ” came the disembodied voice of Lt. Cmdr. Data.

Picard sighed as he tapped his combadge. “Mr. Data, I’m rather busy at the moment. What could you possibly need me there for? You were just doing routine maintenance checks with Mr. La Forge.”

“ _Yes, Sir, but Captain, we have guests._ ”

Picard frowned. “Guests, Mr. Data?”

“ _Yes, Sir._ ”

“I’m on my way.” Picard gave his badge another tap then shoved aside the PADD he’d been using to go over reports from Riker on staffing issues that needed to be resolved before they arrived at Starbase Alpha. “Those will just have to wait,” he muttered as he walked out of his ready room. “Number One, come with me.”

Riker blinked at the command but stood and tugged down his jacket. “Yes, Sir.” Following his captain onto the turbo lift, he waited for the door to swish closed before asking what was going on. “Something wrong, Captain?”

“Data just informed me we have guests in cargo bay one.”

“Guests?”

“That was my response.” Picard smirked as he looked at his first officer.

Riker shrugged and gave the older man a lopsided smile. “You know what they say about working with someone so long.”

Picard chuckled, “I do.”

The turbo lift came to a stop, the doors swishing open. “Well, let’s go see who our guests are.”

“Let’s hope they’re friendly this time.” Riker mumbled.

Picard nodded his agreement just before he reached out to enter his code to enter the cargo bay. Seeing the mass of people he frowned. “Mr. Data! What is the meaning of this?” he shouted above the noise, though he knew the android could have heard him whisper.

Data held out a hand to stop a man trying to escape out the open door. “Our guests.”

“Where did they come from?”

“The nineteenth century.”

“The nineteenth century!” Picard scowled then did something he’d always hated his father doing. The shrill whistle silenced everyone. “That’s much better.”

Riker looked at Picard in surprise. “Very affective, Captain.”

“We didn’t have technology at home. Father had to call my brother and I in somehow.” Picard explained then turned his attention to the closest man that looked halfway reasonable. “Stand down, Mr. Data.”

“Yes, Sir.” Data moved back to let Picard pass but kept himself in the path of anyone that might try to get out the door.

“What’s your name?”

Jarrod cleared his throat and held out his hand. “Jarrod Barkley, Captain.”

Picard was a bit startled to be addressed by rank but took the man’s hand. “How did you know what to call me?”

“You seem to be wearing uniforms and the others were all looking to you. Also…” he tapped at his collar.

Picard smiled as he nodded. “Very astute, Mr. Barkley. I’m Captain Jean Luc Picard.”

“Are we on a ship?” Audra asked as she studied the man before her.

“Audra, manners.” Jarrod nudged her. “Sorry, Captain. This is my sister, Audra.”

“It’s quite alright.” Picard smiled at the young woman. “Yes, you’re on a ship, though I’m afraid I can’t tell you more. We have a directive that we must follow.”

“In other words…” Nick said as he joined the conversation. “This is top secret. Some sort of government experiment.”

Jarrod rolled his eyes. “Manners, Nick.”

Nick sighed and held out his hand. “Sorry, Captain. I’m Nick Barkley.”

Picard chuckled and shook the man’s hand. “No need for apologies. Manners are easy to forget in a situation like this.”

“Can you tell us how we got here?” Jarrod asked.

“If we knew, we couldn’t tell you, but we don’t know. I will promise to make this more comfortable. Maybe a little less sterile.”

Audra smiled at him. “Oh that would be wonderful.”

“Would you spread the word?”

“We’ll all help.”

Picard nodded his thanks to Jarrod. “I’ll go with my officers to see if we can find out how you came to be here and work on a way to get you home.”

“Thank you very much, Captain.” Audra smiled at him then turned and made her way into the crowd, getting people’s attention as she went.

“Your sister may do all the work for you.” Picard chuckled even as he admired the young woman’s determination.

Jarrod and Nick both smiled as they watched their sister.

“She’s learned from our mother how to get people’s attention. If our mother were here, she’d have this whole room full of people quieted down and settled.”

Nick nodded his agreement. “She’s a captain in her own right.” Turning to look at Picard, he held the older man’s gaze. “You have to help us get back to her.”

“I promise, Mr. Barkley. My crew are some of the best in their fields. We’ll get you home. All of you.”

~*~

“We have discovered the problem.”

“Well, Mr. Data, report.”

Data pointed at the view screen. “This is the anomaly we passed. Our sensors scanned it but missed the fact that it has a tear in the space time continuum at the center.”

“Mr. La Forge?” Picard looked to his chief engineer. 

“I have a team going over the sensor array to find the problem, Captain. There also seems to have been some sort of malfunction with the transporter. Chief O’Brien is going over the logs as we speak.”

Picard nodded. “I made a promise. Let’s make sure we keep it and get these people home before their families suffer more than they have.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Dismissed.”

Picard watched as everyone filed out of the room then stood and walked over to stare out at the passing stars. Tapping his combadge, he gave the order to return to the coordinates of the anomaly. His thoughts turned to the malfunction of the transporter. Why had it happened? And how had it brought only people from one particular time in history?

“Stop,” he commanded himself. The whys weren’t important at this juncture. Getting those people home, that was all that mattered.

~*~

Jarrod looked around, smiling when he saw his mother rushing to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he pressed kisses into her hair as she cried against his chest. “It’s alright now, Mother. We’re home.”

Nick was next to wrap his arms around the woman, his own eyes watering at her crying. He could tell she’d lost weight and he looked up at Jarrod, worry in his eyes. “We’ve had a bit of adventure, Mother…that’s all.”

Audra wrapped her arms tightly around her mother and cried with her. “We’re so sorry you were worried, Mother. I promise we came back as soon as we could.”

Victoria stood back and took in the sight of her three children alive and well standing in front of her. “So many people just disappeared. No one knew why or where they’d gone. Two months…” her voice broke and she stopped.

“It’s a long and crazy story, Mother, and I’m afraid we don’t have a lot of answers.” Jarrod sighed, still curious about where they’d been.

Nick huffed. “It was just a bit of a malfunction they said. A malfunction of what?”

Audra rolled her eyes. “Malfunction. Nonsense.”

Victoria looked from one child to the next, confusion furrowing her brow. “Malfunction? A bit of a malfunction took my children and thousands of other people? That’s the best whoever they are could come up with?”

Jarrod moved to wrap an arm around her. “Why don’t we go into the living room? I’ll tell you what we were told about the malfunction.”


End file.
